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| Born | (1951-09-26) September 26, 1951 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S. |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1965–present |
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Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Tony grew up in Detroit, Michigan, with his younger brother, Hunt Sales (born 1954).
In 1970, the Sales brothers joined Todd Rundgren in the newly formed group, Runt, and recorded two albums.
They recorded the album Kill City with Iggy Pop in 1975 and provided the rhythm section for Pop’s album Lust for Life (1977), which was produced by David Bowie, who also played keyboard. The brothers joined Pop on his subsequent tour, recorded as TV Eye Live 1977 and released in 1978.
In 1982, Sales joined a band named Chequered Past, which included singer/actor Michael Des Barres (later of Power Station), ex-Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, and Blondie’s bass player Nigel Harrison and drummer Clem Burke. According to Des Barres, the choice of name was not an idle one. “All the members have been through a lot,” he told the Los Angeles Times at his house in Hollywood, including the fact that Sales had fully recovered from a debilitating auto accident. After an album released by Chequered Past in 1984 flopped the band broke up shortly afterward.
Sales joined David Bowie, Reeves Gabrels and Hunt Sales in Tin Machine in 1988. The New York Times said of the band’s first album, “Tin Machine sounds as if it was made by people working together, not by a producer with a computer.” On November 23, 1991, Tin Machine appeared on Saturday Night Live, which was hosted by then child actor Macaulay Culkin. Tin Machine recorded three albums and did two tours before it broke up in 1992. Bowie later stated that his memories of Tony and Hunt Sales’ contribution to Lust for Life led him to invite them to join Tin Machine.
Throughout the 1990s, Sales recorded and produced and was a member of the short-lived all-star band The Cheap Dates, which included actor Harry Dean Stanton, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter and Slim Jim Phantom.
Bass Stuff 